A nice article in the San Jose Mercury News. I took a class in Bharatha Natyam in college, just one afternoon. One of the hardest dance classes I ever took.

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Dance's turnabout HOW INDIAN ART FORM OVERCAME ITS TAWDRY PAST By Anita Amirrezvani Mercury News

Many dance forms have caused scandals in their day, but few can boast a history as dramatic as that of bharata natyam, the South Indian classical dance that now is one of India's most prominent cultural exports.

Said to have emerged in the heavens, the dance traditionally was performed by devadasi, women consecrated to temples. But by the 19th century, some of the devadasi had become courtesans to kings, and the dance had become associated with prostitution. As a result, it was banned in temples and frowned on by many respectable families.

Thanks for this LMCtech. It's a fascinating rewriting of the 20th C. history of Bharata Natyam. It was European based artists, such as Uday Shankar, who reintroduced the dance form to India in the 20s and 30s and performed it on stage for the first time ever in India.

With this kick-start, the Indian middle-class took up the dance form and it became fashionable for their daughters to study Bharata Natyam for the first time. Then it got wrapped up in the quest for Independence.

It is often quoted as an example of of cultural traditions bouncing between colonial and colonised nations.

By Lisa Traiger Special to The Washington Post Friday, June 20, 2003; Page WE29

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TEHREEMA MITHA crosses borders as easily as the rest of us cross streets. The Pakistani-born dancer and choreographer of the classical Indian form bharata natyam -- once a staple of Hindu temple worship but in the past half-century a prized and lauded stage tradition from Delhi, India, to Damascus -- toggles between her classical Indian roots and an ongoing quest to try something innovative. This weekend at Dance Place, Mitha's three-year-old company introduces new works and new ideas to this ancient classical dance form.

Contrary to popular belief, South Asian dance isn’t all hip shaking and belly gyrations. Bharata Natyam is a South India dance performed traditionally as part of a temple and court ceremony dating back to the seventh century.

After several years of training, Valencia High School students Komal and Mala Tejwani held a Bharata Natyam recital in Malibu on Saturday.

Traveling to classes in North Hollywood for the past seven years, Mala, 15, and Komal,17, said the dance is something that Indian parents would like to see their children, both male and female, learn because it teaches them about their culture.

Hertsdance, the dance development agency for Hertfordshire, has stepped up its education outreach programme this year, to provide workshops and performances in Hertfordshire schools by international artists. These artists spread across a wide spectrum of dance styles from American Hip Hop dancers to a Classical Indian dancer. Our IntoDance! reporter dropped in at Sele School in Hertford to watch Bharata Natyam expert Shilpi Baruri conduct her slick and entertaining workshop.

Shilpi Baruri is undoubtedly one of the most sensational Bharata Natyam dancers to come out of the Calcutta Bharata Natyam circuit in recent years. During her first European appearance, her spellbinding dance choreographed to the tune of “Vande Mataram” fetched her standing ovations at the Purcell Room in the Royal Festival Hall.

MUSCAT — All dance lovers of Oman can look forward to an evening of dance from Shiva Shakthi School of Dance at the Oman Auditorium of Al Bustan Palace Hotel on September 26, at 6.30pm.

Vasantha Vaikunth, who has enthralled the audience in Oman with several of her dance ballets, Cosmic Harmony in particular, will be performing along with her students. The highlight of the evening will be a ballet — Celestial Vision — in Bharathanatyam style that has a mesmerising music content.

Vasantha Vaikunth, when asked about the theme of her ballet, said: “It is about a mother who gets to experience the divine glimpse in the form of her own child.

Although separated by centuries and continents, the millenniums-old Indian dance style and the jazz of the aching 20th-century diva have a lot in common, said choreographer Ranee Ramaswamy, the foremost bharatanatyam exponent in the Twin Cities.

Like flowers in full bloom, girls from ages 14 to 17 are at their best. At the Guangzhou Grand World Scenic Park Dance School (GGWSPDS), there are 24 such girls who indulge themselves in dance, a form of art that means elegance to the audience but cruelty to the performers.

In July 1996, Zhang Jun, one of the founders of the China Oriental Song & Dance Ensemble and an eminent expert in Indian dance, and Liang Langxing, vice-headmaster of the Guangdong Dance School, spent ten days enrolling students aged 12 to 15 in the cities of Changsha, Wuhan, and Pingdingshan. They then established the GGWSPDS, which offers 3-year dance programs, under the Guangdong Dance School on September 2nd the same year.

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